SPRING UPDATE: "Secret" Season of Pre-Runoff Fly Fishing
Published by: Harlan Kimball
The best time of year is upon us! The (somewhat) secret season of pre-runoff fly fishing. This is the window between the low elevation runoff and high elevation runoff. We've already seen many of our freestone rivers like the Colorado, Eagle, and Arkansas transition from frozen to flowing. Get the rafts cleaned up, the nymph and streamer boxes stocked because it's time to start planning some amazing days on the water.
Below is the current snowpack percentage of normal. We are sitting right about average but hopefully with a few more of our typical spring storms we will have another great water year.
The fish are gorging themselves after a long winter, getting healthy servings of stoneflies, worms, baetis, and midges. We are still seeing trout holding in their usual winter lies, but don't be surprised to see happy fish feeding heavily in the riffle buckets and some faster than usual water. On a recent outing to the Colorado river we found sizable brown trout in faster riffles picking apart midge emerger nymphs.
One of my favorite hatches of the year, BWO's have been spotted! It's best to stick to lower elevation stretches of river like the Arkansas in Salida, The South Platte near Deckers or 11 Mile Canyon. The little sailboat looking bugs are easy targets for rising trout. Make sure you have some patterns like the Antonio's Adult BWO, Mathews' Sparkle Dun Baetis, or a good ol' Parachute Adams.
Most of the Colorado River is now floatable but flows are low so be cautious and prepared to scrape bottom here and there. We recently floated from Pumphouse to Radium and everything went smoothly until the takeout at Radium. There is still a large ice shelf on the Radium boat ramp that we expect to thaw in the next week or two.
Stillwater season is on the horizon and we have scouted a few reservoirs like Antero and Wolford that have open, fishable water. It's not a lot but just enough to strip a streamer or watch a bobber rig. Large predators tend to like cruising the shoreline during ice off picking apart baitfish, leeches and other lake bugs.
With warmer than usual temperatures expected over the next week, dust off your gear and get outside to enjoy the "secrete" season of pre-runoff fishing!
